Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!!!

[Lovinggems]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

Some more photos, tapered bullets and tapered bullets with half moons.

 

[Acinom]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

Wow, wow, wow. Look at the color! look at the cutting. I am sure you are going to start a Jeff's yellow zircon club.

Thank you so much for your kind words shulaibaoma!
I would love to wear an Asscher or cushion with chunky faceting from Jeff as well. But it would need to wait until after BIG BAN

Beautiful stone , it is lovely pre and post heating. How about platinum with tapered bullets?
I also like the yellow gold basket idea.

Thank you Jeff did such an amazing job. Thank you for sharing your ideas and the photo's!! Those rings by Leon are stunning

wow, what a transformation! The stone is lovely. While I certainly do love half moons flanking a cushion, something like the trueste solitaire would be beautiful for that, especially at that size. I also tend to think zircons are good stand-alone stones - they're pretty eye-catching on their own!

Thank you Distracts! I agree that this stone seems to have enough visible power to stand in its own! Zircon's can be a bit vulnerable though according to the PS experts? But the last couple of years I do not seem to be hard on my hands at all. And since it will be an occassional RHR a simple solitaire is definitely a strong contender.

 

[Arcadian]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

GORGEOUS! Thats going to be one gorgeous ring!

 

[yssie]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

Wow

Your stone is gorgeous, and the transformation is unbelievable!! I'm looking at the picture of the rough on Page3 and truly, it looks like one of those rocks you buy for mulch beds

Actually... the colour after cutting and before heating stopped me short Golden-yellow and yellowy-red were my top two choices for this setting, and oh my goodness, I'm half-tempted to ask him to just leave mine unheated if that's what it looks like!

It must be amazingly sparkly IRL And it's sizable!! I can't wait to see how you set it It's too bad 22k is so soft - it would be absolutely perfect for that colour...

 

[Acinom]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

Thanks for chiming in and your kind words Arcadian and Yssie

Yssie: according to Jeff the stone is very sparkly!! I am looking forward seeing it with my own eyes, but that will not be before it's set.
I think I will stay in my comfort zone and choose WG or platinum for this one.

 

[EvangelineG]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

What a wonderful result! Lovely yellow stone!

I agree that the colour of the gem seems to call for YG at least on the prongs/basket, but I am also not a huge YG fan (doesn't suit my skin tone) and so I would probably go with all white metal too. I look forward to seeing your finished piece!

 

[arkieb1]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

I don't know how you aren't tempted to get him to cut another one and leave it the pre-heated colour - I love it preheated as well. You could do very tiny YG prongs only and the rest in a white metal I don't think that would look odd and you would not have to have YG right next to your skin.

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

Beautiful stone Acinom! What a journey from rough to gorgeous. Look forward to seeing it set, it will be a fabulous ring I am sure.

 

[distracts]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

Thank you Distracts! I agree that this stone seems to have enough visible power to stand in its own! Zircon's can be a bit vulnerable though according to the PS experts? But the last couple of years I do not seem to be hard on my hands at all. And since it will be an occassional RHR a simple solitaire is definitely a strong contender.

It's certainly too vulnerable for an everyday ring that will last forever but for an occasional wear ring it would be fine, I'd think. I have a zircon ring and every time I wear it, it takes a beating. It's been dropped, whacked into things, etc many times and I can't spot any obvious damage with a 10x loupe, though maybe I just suck at seeing stuff. ymmv and all though.

 

[Acinom]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

Thank you Evangeline, Arkieb, LisaRN, Distracts

Evangeline: currently I am gearing towards using platinum and a very simple setting. When the stone arrives I will ask David Klass to snap some additional pics and go from there.

Arkieb: tempting indeed, but the pre-heated color is not always this beautiful red. I will have to live vicariously through Yssie: she will review the pre-heated color first. And well: a ban is a ban

LisaRN : thank you for sharing my enthusiasm about this project!

Distracts: thanks for sharing your experience. My blue zircon looks like new as well. But it is set in a protective halo.

YELLOW SISTERHOOD
So proud to be ringsisters with SapphireStyle (she started this craze with her amazing stone) and perhaps Yssie (though she might opt for the reddish pre-heated version). I cannot wait to see how they will set theirs!!

 

[dk168]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

Looking forward to see the finished ring.

Have you decided on the setting yet?

DK

 

[Acinom]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

Hi DK
I will make a final decision when I receive more photo's from David. But as I see it now I will choose a simple solitaire setting in WG or platinum. Possibly with a kite set bezeled frenchie in the gallery:

 

[Acinom]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

Received the jeweller's pic's of the stone. It looks like an excellent cut obviously, but the colour seems to be more champagne. According to the jeweller the cut is great, the sparkle better than most of the many zircon's he has seen and the colour a champagne yellow. Not as yellow as in the vendor pic. The jeweller is located on the West coast USA.

What do you think? I was hoping for the bright yellow of the vendor pic...

 

[Acinom]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

Yet more...

I also appreciate champagne colours and have even actively been looking for one. Was just hoping for a more bright colour for this one. I wonder whether the colour has 'faded' after heating (the phonomenon Gene described in Yssie's yellow thread).

 

[0-0-0]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

That's really odd. Has your jeweler seen the stone in sunlight or incandescent light?

I suspect it's more an issue in the quality of lighting than the stone fading. Cfl/led lights with low cri can make some colored stones look really terrible, and the pictures suggest something more along those lines.

 

[shulaibaoma]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

Acinom: I did expect more yellow too base on the photos from JW you posted earlier, can you request video?

 

[SparkliesLuver]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

Hm. I too expected a different color. However, I'm trying to remember back to when another jeweler had your tourmaline. It too looked quite unsaturated compared to the vendor pic and your pic. Maybe it's something with jeweler lighting?

 

[Acinom]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

Jeff looked at the photo's and he assumes that the color shift phenomenon as described by Gene must have happened. I can return the stone if I want to. The stone has a great cut and sparkle but the colour is not what I had expected at all. The original heated colour would have been great with my skintone, while this colour might look very washed out. I will think about it and decide shortly...
Sparklies: this is a different jeweler than the one who set my tourmaline. The colour might be marginally better in real life but not nearly as saturated compared to the vendor pic.

I must say Jeff is a very relaxed person and has a great customer service.

 

[arkieb1]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

Maybe you should ask the vendor who has it to go to a window or outside and get a clear pic in indirect sunlight that should give you a more accurate idea of the colour.

 

[SparkliesLuver]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

That's awesome that he's willing to take it back since the color drastically changed; however, it stinks that it happened. I'm sorry. Let us know what you decide.

haha Yes, I remember. I was just saying, overall, that maybe they have similar lights. Not sure.

 

[Acinom]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

Arkieb, Sparkliesluver, Shulaibaoma & thbmok: thank you for your reflections and suggestions!!
Will indeed ask the jeweller to take some more pics. I want to be absolutely sure, especially this was custom cut for me. I hate it that Jeff did all this work and that I would have to send it back.

Every shade of blue fits with my skintone. Unfortunately this is not the case with yellow. If it has brown, orange or green in it, it will not look good with my skintone... If the new pics show less champaign/brown and a bit more saturated yellow, I think I will just keep it and not spend too much on setting it...

I must admit I am a bit disappointed, but it's not anyone's fault en luckily it's only 'a stone'.

 

[Arcadian]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

Looks like they're just bad pictures. This stone is also likely reflecting the camera too, so remember that as well. The one thing with zircon that has always been a pain in the arse for me is that they don't always represent well on camera, when IRL they are amazing. Most zircons tend to look better in diffused lighting rather than full sun (the blues seem to be exempt from this more often than not), and, some colors do appear to black out to the human eye in full sun. I have a couple that do exactly this and they're not dark or badly cut by any means.

If you were going to return it, it would be now. While I think its very pretty, be prepared that it will be a bit moody and may not perform as you would expect all the time.

 

[arkieb1]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

What Arcadian is saying is why I suggested the vendor attempt indirect sunlight for a pic, like next to sunlight coming in via a window or in the shade next to where the sunlight is - that is where I think you might get a vague idea of the true colour.

If you can get some better pics and you still don't love it send it back and swap it for something you do love!!!

 

[chrono]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

Looks like they're just bad pictures. This stone is also likely reflecting the camera too, so remember that as well. The one thing with zircon that has always been a pain in the arse for me is that they don't always represent well on camera, when IRL they are amazing. Most zircons tend to look better in diffused lighting rather than full sun (the blues seem to be exempt from this more often than not), and, some colors do appear to black out to the human eye in full sun. I have a couple that do exactly this and they're not dark or badly cut by any means.

If you were going to return it, it would be now. While I think its very pretty, be prepared that it will be a bit moody and may not perform as you would expect all the time.

My first thought is this but if the jeweller who has it in his hands describes it as champagne, then I'd trust his description over the photographs.

 

[Arcadian]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

Looks like they're just bad pictures. This stone is also likely reflecting the camera too, so remember that as well. The one thing with zircon that has always been a pain in the arse for me is that they don't always represent well on camera, when IRL they are amazing. Most zircons tend to look better in diffused lighting rather than full sun (the blues seem to be exempt from this more often than not), and, some colors do appear to black out to the human eye in full sun. I have a couple that do exactly this and they're not dark or badly cut by any means.

If you were going to return it, it would be now. While I think its very pretty, be prepared that it will be a bit moody and may not perform as you would expect all the time.

My first thought is this but if the jeweller who has it in his hands describes it as champagne, then I'd trust his description over the photographs.

I can agree in part, but there's lots of things that could be at play; namely their light, their color interpretation. Its definitely yellow to me and not champagne.

At any rate, I honestly don't know if the stone faded but hey anything is possible and shouldn't be totally off the table either, but I'm just talking from personal experience with zircons. They're a bit of a pain in the arse sometimes to take pictures of, they also don't like bright light...blues seem to be ok with it, but go figure why, and because of their moodiness at times, they can be interpreted in different ways. They look much better in diffused light.

I have a champagne colored zircon, beautiful, looks like a diamond, but will black out in full sun. RI makes them do it I believe.

IMO zircs should be seen in person whenever possible for evaluation.

New pictures are a must, and if there's any doubt about color not being as stated and she's not happy with it, then she should just send it back. Better to do it now than have regret after the set.

 

[chrono]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

IMO zircs should be seen in person whenever possible for evaluation.

This is the problem; Acinom is in Europe and will not be able to see it until it is set, which at that point, the zircon will not be returnable. The only thing we can go by is her jeweller's word as he is currently the recipient/caretaker of the zircon. I've been questioned strongly recently for trying to gauge colouration via photography which is fair enough as I do not have the stone in hand, but I gave my opinion based on the vendor's customers review/comparison. Is the jeweller's first hand opinion not more accurate than any possible picture? Perhaps she might ask the jeweller to view it under different light sources to see whether the yellow might be brought out?

 

[Arcadian]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

IMO zircs should be seen in person whenever possible for evaluation.

This is the problem; Acinom is in Europe and will not be able to see it until it is set, which at that point, the zircon will not be returnable. The only thing we can go by is her jeweller's word as he is currently the recipient/caretaker of the zircon. I've been questioned strongly recently for trying to gauge colouration via photography which is fair enough as I do not have the stone in hand, but I gave my opinion based on the vendor's customers review/comparison. Is the jeweller's first hand opinion not more accurate than any possible picture? Perhaps she might ask the jeweller to view it under different light sources to see whether the yellow might be brought out?

Yes she should ask to have it viewed under other conditions, and if not satisfactory, send it back. I think we're all pretty much saying the same thing really.

The only problem is that they could still call it terrible and it could perform perfectly fine in her environment. But, thats the chance you take with an unseen stone.

 

[minousbijoux]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

So why do we think it faded so quickly? Was the color shown post heating? Could this be the color it has been since it was heated? I have a yellow zircon I bought from BB years ago and it has not changed a bit. So I would assume other things are at play here before I would assume that a knowledgeable seller like Jeff was unaware that it could change color and that between the time it left his hands post heating, and the time it arrived in California, it suddenly faded. Jeff is up there in my pantheon of best cutters with the best eye for color and it just doesn't sound like him. So did he show you a pic after it was heated but before it was sent?

ETA: just to be clear, I know no one is accusing Jeff of anything, least of all acinom so I did not mean to give that impression in case I did.

 

[PrecisionGem]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

It may have been on another yellow post, where I explained that these zircons do drift after heating. A few people mentioned they were told that this isn't true, but from my experience it happens pretty much all the time. I have cut and heated a lot of these yellow zircons, and it has always been the case.

If you buy a stone at a gem show that was cut and heated some time ago, then no, the color is not going to change. It happens during the first week. When you heat the stone, the stone looks great, then over the course of a few days the color slowly drifts somewhat back to the original. I'm sure when it was shipped, it still looked very good, but by the time the jeweler got it, the drifting was noticeable.

Often reheating will dramatically improve it, and it will not drift back, but I would always give it a week or so. Never evaluate a zircon fresh out of the oven, give it some time.

 

[minousbijoux]

Re: Finally some yellow in my future - the Jeff White saga!!

I saw your post, Gene, I was just doubting it had occurred here. Perhaps the yellow zircons that have crossed my path have already faded but your experience has not been my, albeit limited, experience fwiw.